


Mirror, Mirror

by AnagramRMX



Series: The Power of Three (Plus Two) [6]
Category: Charmed, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Episode Style, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 03:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1154518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/pseuds/AnagramRMX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young witch tries to join the Halliwell Coven while Sam complains about how overprotective Prue is. Phoebe starts learning the ways of the Winchester family business</p>
<p>Or, Episode 7 of Charmed if the Dean and Sam were Halliwells</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror, Mirror

The bedroom at the top of the stairs was dark as Aviva lit several candles in front of her mirror. Everything was arranged just so: a skull in the center of four perfectly black candles, a black cloth, a circle of candles placed around her. As the flame caught the wick of the last candle, she straightened up, criss-crossing her legs, doing her best to shake off the misery from the day’s earlier events. Once her mind was clear, she faced the mirror in front of her, and closed her eyes.

“Come to me Kali,” she called. “I conjure thee, Kali. Come to me Kali, I conjure thee Kali…”

A woman appeared in the mirror, practically glowing in her beauty. She was young, with curly blonde hair, and was wearing a long white gown. She smiled at Aviva before she spoke.

“I am here, Aviva.”

The teenager looked up, and though she was relieved to see her mentor, it did not show on her face. “It’s been over a week,” she said wearily.

The woman in the mirror looked upon her sympathetically. “I know. Be patient.”

“But I’ve done everything you’ve asked!” Aviva pleaded. “I’ve followed the Halliwells. I know their every move.”

“Which will all become valuable in good time,” Kali assured her in a soft, nurturing voice. “You must trust me. You must make them want you as badly as you want them.”

Aviva shook her head, not quite believing her. She was miserable from waiting and had felt alone for far longer than she liked. Listening to Kali was the only way anything would change, though, so she nodded, accepting the continued delay in their plans.

She looked back up at Kali and tried to smile. “I talked to my mom today.”

The expression on Kali’s face grew sympathetic and concerned, “How is she?”

“I don’t know,” Aviva answered truthfully. At the clinic, her mother had seemed so different than the woman she had been before she went into rehab. Aviva was old enough to expect the mood changes and the irritation, but how did she know if that was actually helping her mom or not? “She’s better, I think. I miss her.”

“She’s going to be so proud of you,” Kali said.

Aviva perked up. “Yeah?” she asked. “I hope so…”

Kali gave her an assuring smile before she held a hand out. “Are you ready to receive your power?”

At the question, Aviva’s heart began to swell with anticipation. “You know I am,” she said with a smile on her face, and a slight excited laugh.

Kali nodded again, but added, “Remember, this is a sacred power. If I give it to you, you must use it only as I say.”

Aviva nodded fervently. “I will, I promise!” she assured her mentor.

“Very well. Reach for the mirror,” Kali instructed, and Aviva stood to touch the glass. “Put out your hands. Feel the power.”

As Aviva held her hands out, they began to glow, and she shuddered a little as the feeling of magic flowed through her veins. When the sensation stopped, and the glowing subsided, she put her hands down, trembling with excitement.

“You know what to do,” Kali said to her. “Go to them.”

Without even blowing out the candles, Aviva nodded, and snatched up her coat before rushing out the door. She never looked back to see how an ugly smirk formed on Kali’s face.

The sorceress was quiet as she watched her charge go, quietly bemused at how the girl was doing her bidding. Her eyes flashed red before her image in the mirror faded.

 

(-:-)

 

“I thought I made it clear yesterday: you aren’t going.”

Sam let out a long sigh, and ground his teeth together to keep from yelling. “Come on, Brady’s mom-“

Before Sam could finish the sentence, Prue turned around to look at him. She had a stubborn look on her face, and it was obvious to Sam that she was not going to change her mind. “Brady’s mom doesn’t have to worry about her son collapsing at a moment’s notice,” she said flatly.

“It’s just a soccer game!”

Prue sighed, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You aren’t going, Sam,” she told him, before she turned to walk down the stairs.

“I don’t understand why you won’t let me go…” Sam grumbled, following her irritably.

“Yes you do. For one, your headaches are getting worse, whether you’ve told me about them or not. Second: You’re lucky you aren’t still grounded…”

Sam made an annoyed whine. “My punishment was over last week…”

“And if you keep arguing, you’re just going to get punished _again,_ ” she informed him as they reached the bottom of the stairs. When she saw Piper scuttling by with an armful of paper, Prue waved an arm at her sister pointedly. “If you really want to get out of the house, why don’t you help Piper?”

Sam rolled his eyes while Prue walked off. He grumbled, “Hanging fliers is _not_ getting out of the house…”

Piper looked at him sympathetically. “She’s just trying to keep you safe,” she said gently.

“Well she’s going a little overboard.”

Piper shook her head at his stubbornness as they walked into the kitchen, and was setting the flyers down on the table when the back door swung open, and Dean rushed in with Phoebe. The youngest of the Halliwell girls had her hands pressed against her face like she was hurt, while Dean hovered at her side.

He looked apologetic and was asking her to let him see it. “C’mon Pheebs, just lemme make sure it isn’t too bad…”

Something was obviously wrong, and Piper scrambled over to them to see what the matter was. “Oh gosh, what happened?” she blurted in concern, forgetting about the flyers so that she could make sure her sister was okay.

The door swung open again and Leo walked through the door, looking just as worried about Phoebe as Dean did. “She tripped while Dean was showing her how to block punches,” he said, his voice sympathetic. “Do you have any icepacks?”

It had been a few weeks now since Leo had found Dean and Phoebe wandering around the hardware store. At first, his recurring visits at the manor had been strictly professional, since he and Dean had agreed to trade house repairs at the manor for repairs to Leo’s truck. These days, however, he just seemed to turn up, usually just to hang out with Dean, and sometimes to just marvel at how beautiful the old house was.

No one really minded. Piper in particular enjoyed having him around. He helped out with just about everything, and never asked questions about the odd occurrences that happened around them.

It was because of this that Dean had enlisted Leo on his latest project: teaching the girls how to defend themselves.

Since getting their powers, there had been a number of beings attacking them, both magically and physically. For Dean and Sam, it wasn’t a big deal. Their dad had trained them from a young age to be able to fight anything that came at them. It was a different story for the girls, though, who had only recently had reason to defend themselves. Dean had taken it upon himself to make sure that they knew what they were doing in a fight, but it was going slow.

Prue, for one, didn’t seem to think she had anything to learn. She had gotten control of her telekinetic powers pretty quickly, and every time something came after her, she just kept them away using her powers. She was also pretty busy with work, as well as with her boyfriend these days. Despite Dean’s insistent remarks, learning how to fight monsters was not at the top of her list of priorities.

Piper was usually too busy with work as well, but she had at least been making more attempts to be sure she was safe. She had started carrying around an iron knife, and had sat in on a few of Dean’s lessons with Phoebe. She hadn’t actually learned much yet because of distractions like Leo, though.

Because she had the most time to practice, Phoebe was making the most progress. She had learned quite a bit on how to handle the most common types of monsters, and they had covered a few of the most basic maneuvers to help her in a fight, like throwing a solid punch and dodging out of the way. Understandably, though, she was making basic mistakes, and had some coordination problems.

Today, Dean had been showing her how to block punches. Phoebe had laughed earlier, thinking it was silly, but when she tripped, she had slammed face first into the punch that she was supposed to be blocking.

Leo walked over to the freezer, and started searching for an ice pack while Dean managed to gently pull Phoebe’s hands away from her face. It looked like there was going to be a serious bruise there, but Dean was glad that he hadn’t managed to break the skin.

He heaved a sigh of relief. “Alright, it doesn’t look bad. You should be alright…”

“I know but it _stings_ ,” Phoebe whined, and Dean let out a tiny laugh.

“Then watch where you’re stepping next time. Jeez…”

Phoebe stuck her tongue out at him while Leo walked back, holding out an ice pack for her. Piper looked at Leo thankfully.

Before anyone else could say something, Prue slid in with her purse over her shoulder. “Hey, I’m gonna go…” she began, stopping when she saw the icepack covering half of her sister’s face. “Did I miss something?”

“Not much, we’ll explain later,” Phoebe said, her words slightly slurred from holding the icepack so close to her mouth. “You’re leaving?”

Prue nodded. “I’ve got a date with Andy,” she confirmed. “Be sure to call me if something happens, but I don’t know if I’ll be home tonight.”

“Are you sure I can’t go to the soccer game tonight?” Sam asked pointedly, looking at Prue as if she were being a hypocrite for not letting him go out while she got to go on a date.

Prue just looked at him sternly. “I thought I asked you to stop arguing with me,” she said, before looking back around the room. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With a little wave, she left the kitchen and walked out the front door. Sam huffed as she walked out, and Piper looked at him sympathetically.

“It’s just one game, Sam,” she said reassuringly. “And helping me hang fliers is _sort of_ getting out of the house.”

Sam looked at her, making a face that asked if she was serious, but Leo interrupted before he could say something snarky.

“Flyers? What for?”

“Our cat is missing,” Piper said.

Dean snorted. “You know, except it isn’t actually our cat,” he grumbled, but Phoebe smacked him on the arm lightly.

“Just because we found her doesn’t mean she isn’t our cat,” Phoebe said insistently before looking at Leo. “She went missing a day or two ago.”

“Have you checked the rest of the house?” Leo asked.

Piper nodded. “Top to bottom,” she said with a sigh. “Dean and Phoebe climbed into the fireplace to look earlier. I even called the shelter, but it’s like she just vanished.” She picked the flyers back up off of the table, and looked at him hopefully. “I was going to hang these. Mind helping me out?”

A smile appeared on his face, and Sam sort of gagged at attempt at Piper’s flirting as they walked towards the door together.

Dean tapped his brother on the shoulder. “Hey, chill out. It’s one game.”

“She hasn’t let me go anywhere since you guys found out about my headaches,” Sam grumbled. “It’s ridiculous.”

“She’s being safe,” Dean replied, completely in Prue’s defense. “Just give it a few weeks. Once we know _why_ you’re getting them, it’ll be fine.”

Sam rolled his eyes and started to leave the kitchen. “Or she’ll just be even worse than she is now…”

He stormed off to his bedroom upstairs, and Dean looked back at Phoebe with a sort of annoyed huff.

Phoebe looked at him sympathetically before smiling. “So do we get to try blocking again tonight?”

 

(-:-)

 

Aviva grinned broadly as she walked back into her aunt’s apartment, holding the missing cat flier in her hand. This was the moment that Kali had been making her wait for, and she was so excited that it was finally time.

All the same, she was sure to tone down her excitement as she walked back into the building.

She had been living with her Aunt Jackie for several weeks now since her mother had been taken away. Aviva was perfectly capable of knowing that she _should_ feel grateful to her aunt for taking her in, and that she was just trying to help, but she could not help but loathe the woman. Jackie was not like Aviva’s mother, and constantly harped on her when she skipped school, or didn’t do her homework. Comments were constantly made about how Aviva wore nothing but black, and whenever Aviva told her _no_ , she got upset. There was also the fact that Jackie did not seem to show any sympathy for her sister’s predicament.

Aviva tried to sneak in through the front door, and be as quiet as possible, only for her aunt to appear the second the door shut.

“There you are,” she chastised her niece. “What have I told you about leaving the house without telling me? I was about to call the police…”

Aviva frowned, and turned back to her Aunt as she tugged off her coat. “I was just out,” she growled in response. “It’s not like I was trashing the neighborhood…”

“That’s not the point, Aviva,” Jackie insisted. “I’m responsible for you. I can’t just let you go out without any knowledge of where you are.”

“So I’m just supposed to sit around here and do nothing?” Aviva challenged, her voice sounding like a scoff as she charged for the staircase.

She didn’t have to look back to see that her aunt was glaring at her, following her to her room. “I am talking to you, young lady. You come back here right now!”

But Aviva didn’t listen, and just slammed the door to her room before locking it. The entire room around her was dark, with thick black curtains covering the windows, and posters of metal bands on the wall. There were unlit candles on most of the available flat surfaces, as well as her notebooks from school. The only piece of furniture that was not covered by something black was the mirror that stood facing away from the door.

Immediately, Aviva walked over to her dresser, starting to dig out the items she would need to summon Kali.

Aunt Jackie knocked on the door sharply. “Aviva! Open this door! I’m going to be late for work!”

Aviva attempted to ignore her aunt, but without warning the door opened. Aviva scrambled to close the drawer that contained her tools.

“So, that part about this being _my_ room, that was a lie?” she growled in annoyance.

Jackie looked worn out from this recurring argument. “This is my apartment, Aviva.”

“So you keep reminding me.”

Her aunt sighed before looking around the room. She frowned and shuffled uncomfortably, even sniffing a little as if she could smell mold growing in the dark bedroom. “Why don’t you let some light and air in here?” she questioned before walking over and pulling the curtain from the window.

“Because I like it dark and stale,” Aviva sneered in response.

Jackie looked over at her pleadingly. “Why are you so antagonistic to me?”

Aviva ignored her, and asked a question of her own. “How come _you_ haven’t called mom yet?”

“What-“

“To see how she’s doing, or just say _hello_? It would help her, you know. I mean, it’s not like she’s got a lot of family.”

Jackie stepped towards Aviva, not understanding why she was so angry about this. “She has to take responsibility for her own actions,” she said, thinking it was perfectly reasonable.

“She’s not  in jail!” Aviva blurted in defense of her mother. “She’s in rehab. She didn’t do anything wrong to take responsibility for. She’s sick, and that’s it. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Jackie shook her head, looking a little sad and annoyed at the same time. “Whatever…” she conceded, before walking out the door to leave for work.

Aviva angrily slammed the door behind her before breathing hard and looking at the mirror.

Her aunt just did not understand her, but Kali did, and Kali would tell her what to do next.

She scurried around the room quickly, plucking the candles and skull out of a drawer to set up in front of her mirror. Once her breathing had settled back down, she sat in front of the altar, and repeated the chant to call her mentor.

“Come to me, Kali, I conjure the, Kali…”

After a moment, the woman in white appeared in the mirror.

“I am here, Aviva,” she said to the girl.

Aviva looked up, but her jaw was tense when she said, “I’m going crazy here, Kali. I can’t wait any longer.”

“The Halliwells don’t understand our way,” Kali warned. “They don’t trust outsiders with their secret.”

“I…I’ll show them I can be trusted then,” Aviva said, her voice wavering unsurely, though she was desperate to actually meet them, to be accepted. She remembered the flier she had found, and dug it out of her jacket pocket. “They finally started looking for their cat. Does that mean I can go talk to them now?”

Kali smiled. “Yes, it is time,” she said as she waved her arm. The closet door to Aviva’s left creaked open, and a little head poked its way through curiously. Kit, the Halliwell’s cat, crept through the doorway, sniffing as if it were confused. Aviva smiled and went to pick it up.

“Take the cat back to the Halliwells,” Kali instructed, and Aviva nodded, more than ready to do as she was told.

 

(-:-)

 

It was getting dark outside when Sam looked at his alarm clock, and he sighed when he realized the time. It was nearly seven, which meant that the soccer game had already started. His friends were probably out there right now, cheering on the team and having fun, while he was stuck in his room.

At this point, Sam knew there was no point in brooding. He could not argue with Prue, and she was probably right. His headaches were becoming a serious problem, and they had made it difficult for him to get his reading done. Being in a stadium of screaming soccer fans probably would not have helped matters.

Despite logic, though, Sam was still a teenager, and couldn’t help but be annoyed with Prue for keeping him home.

Not being able to concentrate, he shook his head and put down the book, deciding it was time for a break. He walked downstairs and quickly found the others corralled in the solarium.

Apparently, Dean had decided against continuing Phoebe’s lessons for the day, and instead they were all just hanging out while Piper cooked dinner. He arrived right as Piper flitted over to the table, spending a few seconds too many at Leo’s side. Phoebe was telling them a story about New York that had them all rolling their eyes and saying it wasn’t true.

When he walked into the room, Phoebe caught his eye and smiled. “Hey Sammy, you done hiding out upstairs?”

“For now,” Sam muttered distantly, taking a seat nearby. He wasn’t surprised when Piper gave him a concerned look.

“Is your headache getting worse again?” she asked, already walking towards the medicine cabinet to find some Advil.

Leo looked concerned. “Another one?” he asked. “That’s got to be every night I’ve been over.”

Answering for Sam, Dean spoke up. “Yeah, it’s weird. Doc says they don’t know what’s causing it.”

Sam huffed. “I can answer for myself you know,” he grumbled, although he did not really sound angry about it. After all, Dean had been the one to answer because they had not agreed on a cover story for Sam’s headaches. _They_ all knew that Sam’s migraines were probably a side effect of their recently acquired powers, but they couldn’t very well tell people like Leo that.

Dean thought they were better off hoping that the headaches would just go away eventually, and Phoebe agreed, suggesting that Sam’s body was just reacting differently to the magic than they were because he was young. Prue and Piper on the other hand wanted Sam to see a doctor, just in case the headaches were caused by something that unrelated to magic.

Sam wanted to see a doctor, too, if only for the prescription medication that might help him next time they got _really_ bad during class.

And you know, maybe he would be able to go hang out with his friends again if the doctor could fix it.

Leo looked at him sympathetically before Piper wordlessly swooped in and dropped some Advil and a glass of water in front of him.

Sam thanked her, and quickly swallowed them down, even though he was pretty sure that they would not help.

Across the table, Phoebe looked like she was about to say something, probably returning to her stories about New York, but the door bell rang and cut her off.

"I got it," Phoebe chirped, popping out of her seat and walking to the front.

Sam distractedly sipped his water, and was about to ask Piper what was for dinner when the door opened and Phoebe blurted. "Kit!"

At the announcement, everyone in the room turned towards the door. Sam stood up, and walked to the front, smiling when he saw the Phoebe was cuddling their cat happily.

There was a girl standing in the doorway, giggling a little at Phoebe's enthusiasm. She was wearing all black, and dark lipstick. "I guess that means I have the right house," she joked.

"You bet you do," Phoebe said, smiling at the girl before holding Kit out so that she could look at the cat. "Oh, kitty where have you been? We were worried sick..."

Sam couldn't help but laugh, and held the door open further to invite the girl in. "Thanks for bringing her back," he said easily.

"It was no problem," the girl chuckled a little. "I saw one of your posters and she was just there. Like magic, ya know." She put unnecessary emphasis on the word 'magic' and Sam got the distinct impression that he should be worried.

The others walked in from the other room. "I'm guessing we don't need to worry about the cat anymore," Dean said, rolling his eyes a little as Piper rescued Kit before Phoebe could continue dancing around with her.

The older sister looked over the cat to make sure she wasn't hurt. "She's probably starving..." she muttered concernedly.

"I fed her."

Sam looked back at the girl who had brought Kit back, and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you just found her," he pointed out.

For a few seconds, she looked back at him, as if she did not know what he was talking back before her eyes went wide. "Oh, I meant...I meant earlier. A couple of hours ago," she stammered, and Sam was instantly more suspicious.

"I'm glad someone brought her back," Leo said brightly. "You know, it's still light outside. I could still probably go take the fliers down."

"That sounds great. I'll go with you," Piper declared brightly. "Just let me get my jacket."

The girl looked panicked all of a sudden. "Wait, I-I wanted to talk to you."

Piper and Leo walked back to the kitchen, ignorant to her distress while Dean stepped forward and pulled out his wallet. "Hey, I can cover it," he told her, presuming she was asking for compensation.

She shook her head. "No, I don't want a reward," she said quickly. "My name is Aviva and I wanted to talk with you guys about magic."

Dean froze where he was standing, and Sam looked at her sharply. _Did she just say magic?_ He thought in surprise. _Does that mean..._

Phoebe looked around the room quickly, making sure Leo wasn't around. "Woah-woah-woah, what?"

Aviva smiled a little, starting to repeat herself, but Dean cut her off before she got the word "magic" completely out of her mouth.

"Keep it down, kid," he snapped before grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the living room. "How did you find us?"

Aviva looked surprised at the hostility. "Your fliers..."

"You know what I mean," Dean growled at her, turning back sharply.

Phoebe, who had followed them closely with Sam, looked towards the kitchen where Piper and Leo were getting their coats. "Guys, we can't do this..." she said, knowing it would only be a few seconds before Leo walked back through and overheard.

"Why not?" Aviva snapped. "Look I'm one of you-"

"It's not like that," Sam said quickly, getting in before Dean got aggressive again. "We can't talk about this right now. Maybe you can come back or-"

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" They all turned as Piper walked back into the room with Leo at her side. Piper looked confused about why Aviva was still there, and why they had moved into the living room.

"It's nothing," Phoebe started, but Aviva rolled her eyes and turned to Piper.

"I'm a witch, I wanted to talk to you-"

Before the words were entirely out of her mouth, Piper's eyes went wide, and she waved her hands quickly. Next to her, Leo froze, looking confused. "I'm sorry, what?" Piper grumbled.

Aviva smirked, happy that she had gotten her attention at least. "I know who you are," she said slowly. "And I want to talk to you."

Piper looked baffled. "How do you know about us?!" she blurted.

Aviva just smiled, shrugging. "I just do," she said brightly, before looking around to the others.

The expressions that greeted her were nowhere near as cheery as hers was. Phoebe looked worried, and Dean was outright glaring.

"That's not gonna work," Dean growled. "We don't know who you are and we aren't telling you anything until we get some answers."

"I'll only talk to you if you talk to me," she answered shortly.

Dean glared at her like he was about to smack her for being a smart ass, but Piper looked over at Leo. "Guys, we don't have long before he unfreezes," she quickly said.

Phoebe stepped forwards. "Alright, you really need to go," she said, looking at Aviva pleadingly. "Please?"

Aviva frowned. "No. I'm not leaving; I just saved your cat!"

"Leave or else," Dean growled at her.

"Or else what?" she asked challengingly, glaring right back at him. She moved one of her hands, pointing it at the coffee table next to them. She and Dean didn't break eye contact, but then a fire started in the spot Aviva was pointing to. Dean spat curses and took off his jacket to smother it, while Piper ran to the kitchen to try to find a fire extinguisher. Aviva looked over at Sam and smirked, making him gulp as she walked out the door.

He almost followed her as he thought of dozens of questions he could ask her, but then he heard Dean swearing, and he turned around to make sure everything was okay with his family.

Piper had returned to the living room with the fire extinguisher, but Dean had mostly managed to put out the fire on his own. He was swearing profusely about witches and pyrokinesis.

Phoebe looked a little panicked. "Did we just meet another witch?"

"We didn't _meet_ anyone," Dean responded angrily. "She just threatened us."

Sam made a face. "Dean, she didn't-"

"What is sh-"

They all jumped a little, and turned around when they saw that Leo had unfrozen. He had a confused expression on his face, and he was looking around like he knew something was missing. "Wait...where did that girl go?"

The time for discussing witches was over.

 

(-:-)

 

Aviva rushed straight home. She thought she had put on a good face while she was actually with them, but now that she was on her own, she was panicking.

Kali had told her that giving them their cat would make them trust her, but obviously that had not happened. They did not want to talk to her at all, not when she had just been a stranger, and not when she said she was a witch. Now, she had probably also scared them.

When she reached the house, she was thankful to find that her Aunt was still at work. She went straight up to her room and put together the altar so that she could call her mentor.

After lighting the candles and a few moments of chanting, she appeared.

“Aviva,” Kali greeted sagely. “How did it go?”

“It didn’t…” Aviva sighed, shaking a little. “They didn’t want anything to do with me. You told me that if I brought their cat back…”

“Was it the oldest?” Kali questioned.

Aviva raised an eyebrow. “That did what?”

“That sent you away,” Kali elaborated. “Was it Prue?”

Aviva shook her head. “No,” she muttered, not understanding. “I don’t even think she was home. They all got really mad at me when I mentioned witchcraft, and Dean threatened me when I wouldn’t leave.”

There was a moment of quiet as Kali considered. “Dean is very defensive of his family, but surely once you convince him that you’re trust worthy, it won’t take long.”

“But how do I do that?” Aviva pleaded. “What if they don’t want me?”

“They will,” Kali said. “Sam is your age, is he not? Speak to him on his own. Perhaps if you convince him, he can convince the rest.”

Aviva looked down at her hands, muttering, “Maybe…”

Kali raised an eyebrow. “What is the problem?”

Aviva flicked her eyes up at Kali nervously. “I…I don’t know…” she muttered.

The background in the mirror seemed darker somehow, and Kali’s eyes went cold. “You’re the one that came to me, Aviva,” she said lowly. “You were the one that wanted a family.”

Quickly, Aviva backtracked. “I know. I do,” she blurted, a little desperate to stay in Kali’s favor. “I want a family. Tell me what I need to do.”

“Get Sam to trust you,” Kali explained. “And once you are within their circle, you can complete your side of our bargain.”

The tone of her voice was still dark, and Aviva winced a little with worry. “What am I supposed to do?” she asked warily. “I know I agreed, but you never really said…”

“You will find out when it is time,” Kali assured her. Her tone was light again.

Aviva let out a worried breath, and nodded. She was doing this so that she would have a family.

Whatever Kali wanted would be worth it.

 

(-:-)

 

The sun was barely in the sky when the front door of the manor creaked open.

Prue snuck through quietly with a smile on her face, glad that nothing had happened overnight to interrupt her date. She had had a really good time. Dinner was great, and their coupling afterwards was better. She felt the happiest she had in months when she woke up next to him in the morning, and they had even made plans for him to come over to the manor for dinner that night.

She was about to go upstairs and get ready for work when she saw the giant scorch mark on the coffee table.

Immediately, she rushed into the kitchen where she could hear Piper making breakfast. Dean was sitting at the table fiddling with some sort of metal case, with Sam looking miserable at his side.

Prue stood there for a few seconds without anyone noticing her, before she blurted, “What the hell happened to the front table?”

Piper did not look away from the pan she was tending to, but she looked irritated just by the mention of it. “Oh, we just got a visit from another witch last night…”

“And you didn’t call me?” Prue snapped.

“She was already gone by the time we thought about it,” Dean said. He sounded tired, and more than a little annoyed. “Besides, it wasn’t like there was anything that you could have done. Hell, _we_ couldn’t do anything about it while she was here.”

“But-“

 A voice piped up behind her. “Prue, you know it’s too early for you to be having a bitch-fit, right?”

Prue was nudged to the side as Phoebe walked into the room. She looked tired, and her hair was a mess, like she had not bothered getting ready before coming downstairs.

She ignored how affronted her sister looked as she walked over to the coffee pot.

“Why do you like death warmed over?” Piper asked.

“I stayed up all night to check the book about that girl last night,” Phoebe yawned in response.

“Did you find anything?” Sam asked hopefully, but Phoebe shook her head and made a face.

Quickly, the four of them gave Prue an overview of what had happened. After Aviva had left, they had sent Leo home, and tried to decide what to do next. Calling Prue wouldn’t have helped, and it would only upset her to ditch her date with Andy. They also couldn’t do anything to chase after the girl, seeing as they did not even know her full name.

Phoebe had tried anyway, and checked the book for anyone named _Aviva_ or any warlocks, witches or other monsters who disguised themselves as teenagers.

There hadn’t been anything, of course.

“So we don’t know anything about this girl, or what she wants with us?” Prue asked, her voice drained of all the happiness she had felt just a few minutes earlier.

“Well she said she wanted to talk,” Sam chirped.

Piper shook her head. “Yes, before she set the table on fire and nearly exposed us to Leo.”

“You also threatened her,” Sam replied pointedly, only for Dean to roll his eyes. “Look, she found Kit. She can’t be all bad.”

“Or she could be an evil witch trying to be sneaky and stole the cat to begin with,” Dean said. “Until we know more about her, we can’t assume anything.”

“And if she comes back again we just attack her?” Sam asked sharply.

“If she tries to use her powers on us, yeah,” Prue said. She ignored how Sam’s frown deepened and sighed. “Can we agree that no one will talk to her or go looking for her until we know for sure?”

“I think we can afford to be a little bit less paranoid, guys,” Phoebe said. “She _is_ the first witch that we’ve run across that has powers like ours.”

Piper shook her head. “I think it’s to better to be safe than sorry,” she said, agreeing with Prue. Dean nodded, agreeing as well. Phoebe, it seemed, was too tired to argue, and shrugged.

Prue looked at Sam for good measure, but he only rolled his eyes. She was unsurprised that he was being so stubborn, and although she wished he would be more careful, there was nothing she could do. So she sighed.

“Anyway, I need to get going if I want to be at work on time,” she started to stand, and looked at Phoebe and Dean. “Can you two look into replacing the coffee table.”

 “First thing tomorrow,” Dean assured her, nodding.

“You have plans?”

Dean turned around the metal case that he had in front of him, and Prue’s eyes narrowed when she saw that it held two automatic pistols. “Considering that we have another witch trying to kill us, and Phoebe’s punching skills aren’t going to be any use-” Phoebe made an indignant noise, despite the fact that her mouth was full of coffee, “-against a witch that can set her on fire, I was gonna take her to the shooting range.”

Phoebe perked up, despite the worried face that her sisters made. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Piper asked. “She tripped standing still yesterday.”

“Actually, I’d rather all three of you be going with me,” Dean said. “It’s safer for you to handle a monster from a distance than hand-to-hand, and thankfully, you and Prue both have powers for that. But Phoebe doesn’t, and she’s also the only one that has any time to learn. So yeah, it’s a damn good idea for me to take her.”

Piper looked guilty for a brief moment, and she let it go. Phoebe looked excited now, and Prue nodded.

“Alright, just don’t shoot your eye out,” she muttered, before going upstairs to get ready.

 

(-:-)

 

When Sam got to school he was still frustrated about their conversation that morning. He showed up at class as always, and spent the majority of his spare time chatting with Brady. The entire time, though, he kept wondering about that girl.

He could admit that he was a little worried about what had happened the night before. Aviva _had_ known who they were after all, and unlike them, she was not afraid to use her powers. Until they knew what she wanted, she was dangerous.

But that didn't mean that they should be afraid of her, and Sam was curious. Aside from the warlocks that had come after them recently, Aviva was the only witch they had met who had not sold her soul for magic, and he had never seen her powers before. He wanted to ask her so many questions that he had not been able to find the answers to in a book. Was she from a magical family? What were her powers called, and how did she learn how to use them? And, while there was only a slim chance, did she get magical migraines too?

With all those questions and another headache vying for his attention, he hardly could concentrate through his first few classes.

When he left English, he was making a list in his head of the chapters he would have to read to cover what he had ignored during lecture. He was so focused that he didn’t know someone was walking along side him until they spoke.

"Hey, Sam!"

His head snapped up to see Aviva walking alongside him in the hall. She was smiling at him, acting as if they were friends.

"Aviva?" he asked, bristling warily. "You go to school here?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she answered. "I didn't know we went to the same school either. Cool, right? So what happened after I left last night?"

The way she asked it suggested that she had no idea how much her little stunt had panicked everyone, as if she had actually been invited over.

Sam looked ahead, and lowered his voice. "Well, Piper completely freaked out and Dean wanted to track you down with a rifle, so you made an impression, if that was what you were going for."

Aviva rolled her eyes and laughed. "What? They're totally overreacting," she said.

Sam looked over at her as if to ask if she was serious. "You nearly exposed our secret to Leo."

A confused expression appeared on her face. "He didn't already know?" she asked. "Jeez, I didn't know that you were hiding it...I'm sorry."

For some reason, Sam wasn't really buying it, but she looked apologetic enough. He sighed. "You didn't know," he conceded, "but you did know that we were witches. Why? Who told you?"

She shrugged. "You guys are famous," she said. "Or at yeast your cousins are. The Charmed Ones, you know?"

“Yeah, I guess...”

“That doesn’t make you or your brother any less cool, though,” Aviva added. “I’m really just happy to have found other people like me. I’ve hardly been able to talk to anyone about it…”

Sam raised an eyebrow and looked over at her. “You mean you don’t come from a magic family?” he asked curiously.

Aviva shook her head. “Not really,” she explained. “I’ve only been a…”

Without warning, someone on her other side bumped into her hard, sending her barreling into Sam. “Hey!” she blurted at the offender, who ignored her and kept walking down the hall like he hadn’t even seen her.

Sam could practically see steam coming off of her head as she glared after him. “I should just-“

“No!” Sam blurted, putting an arm in front of her and stopping her from doing something rash. “Aviva, you can’t just hurt people.”

“Why not?” she said sharply, looking at him angrily. “What’s the point of-“

He cut her off again. “Shhh! We can’t talk about that here.”

Aviva looked at him for a second before sighing. “You’re right…” she agreed after a moment.

There was a break in the hallway traffic, and Sam pulled Aviva with him to stand by a set of lockers.

“Look, maybe we can meet up later,” he said. “I haven’t been able to talk to any other witches and I’ve got, like, a million questions. Would you be able to meet me after school?”

Aviva narrowed her eyes, like she didn’t quite get what he was asking. “Or we could talk right now,” she said. “Why don’t we just leave?”

The idea made Sam’s eyebrows shoot towards his hairline. “Wha…you mean ditch class?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah?” Aviva responded. “C’mon, you’ve never skipped before?”

“No,” Sam said shortly.

Aviva laughed like he had just told her a joke. “Well then this is as good a time as any,” she explained. “Come on. You said you have questions.”

“And I can ask them later. Come on, I really shouldn’t miss algebra.”

“Do you really want to wait?” Aviva asked, raising an eyebrow. She had an amused smile on her face.

“I don’t _want_ to, but-“

“No buts,” Aviva laughed. “Now come on. We can catch a bus to your place.” She grabbed his wrist, tugging him towards the nearest exit.

He pulled back. “We could get in trouble,” he argued.

“So?” she asked, making a face that said she really didn’t care. “Look, come with me and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Sam swallowed hard. It wasn’t like he was _really_ a goody-two-shoes like Dean acted like he was.  He just legitimately enjoyed school. But here was a kid his age who knew about magic, and who would actually understand the crap he was going through.

He tried to think through it rationally, but the more he thought, the more he realized that he did not actually have anything going on in class that day that he could not make up. The only thing he would really get in trouble for was ignoring Prue’s mandate that they stay away from Aviva.

He looked up at her, and when he saw the excited look in her eye, he just could not find a reason to stay

Quickly, he looked around the hall. “Alright,” he sighed. “But we need to get out of here quick.”

 

(-:-)

 

Prue let out a breath as she picked up her phone, going over it in her head how she was going to cancel dinner with Andy.

She had known that dating Andy would be difficult without telling him about their powers. After all, a few months ago, she had been so worried she had almost broken up with him before they really had a chance to get together. She was thankful that she hadn’t, of course, but she knew she still had to tell him eventually.

That didn’t mean that she knew what she would tell him yet, so when she dialed Andy’s number, and he picked up, she decided to lie.

“Hey, Andy.”

She could practically hear how Andy was smiling when he replied. “Prue, hey, I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon.”

“Well, you know how unpredictable I can be,” she said, trying to laugh. “Look, I know I asked you to come over for dinner tonight, but something happened…”

“It’s nothing serious, right?” Andy asked. “No one got hurt or anything?”

“No, nothing like that,” Prue said quickly. “There’s this girl that…” She hesitated for half a second, wondering what the best excuse would be. “…Sam knows from school. She came over last night and started a fire in the living room.”

Close enough to the truth, right?

“Wow! I’m guessing it wasn’t too bad, right? They didn’t even call you, so it couldn’t have been.”

“No, just the coffee table, maybe a little scorched carpet,” Prue said gently. “But someone has to talk to her mother, and since I’m Sam’s guardian…”

“I get it…” Andy said on the other line. He sounded disappointed, and Prue felt bad.

“We can try another time,” she offered. “Really, I want you to come over.”

“I’d like that too,” he responded. “I know how important your family is to you, and I’d like to be a part of that. Things just always seem a little too…” He trailed off, looking for a word.

Prue sighed a little. “Hectic?” she offered wryly.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s always a little too hectic to work out.”

“Well I’m still going to try,” Prue said. “Look, I’ll call you once everything is settled down at home. Talk to you soon.”

 

(-:-)

 

The gun range that Dean frequented in San Francisco was small and pretty shady. It was a long cement room in the back of a gun store, and there was a bar next door called _the Colt_. The owner of the range was pretty accustomed to strange men coming in and out, and he tended to not ask questions when he saw weapons that were questionably legal.

Because of this, Dean was friendly with the guy, and he joked around with him for five minutes before finally taking Phoebe into the back room, and pulling the case he had brought with him. He set it down on the counter of the cubicle they were using. When he opened it, he pulled out one of the guns, and held it so that Phoebe could look at it.

"Alright, so this is a twenty two caliber, automatic Reuger," he said, giving her the most basic details with a straight face. "It's not loaded, so go ahead and have a look. Just don't point it at me..."

Phoebe made a face, and looked at him as she took the handgun away from him. "You just said it wasn't loaded."

Dean rolled his eyes as he pulled the other gun from the case. "Doesn't matter whether it's loaded or not. You don't point a gun at anything you don't intend to shoot. And keep your finger outside of the trigger guard."

Even though she was not convinced, she went ahead and took a good look at the gun, flipping it over a few times. It was heavier than she would have thought, and after a minute, she turned towards the wall, putting her hands on the grip like she was going to shoot.

Dean sat back while she got the feel of it, and went ahead and loaded the second gun. Once it was put together, he waved Phoebe to follow him, handing her a pair of ear muffs and goggles along the way.

The firing range itself was blocked off by a long countertop divided into cubicles. Dean stood at the one closest to the wall, and waved for Phoebe to stand and watch behind him. He quickly aimed at the target that had been set up and fired two rounds from his gun. After glancing at his shots for a moment, he took a step back and letting Phoebe look. He had hit somewhere near the center of the target, and she nodded, vaguely impressed.

"Now." Dean pulled the unloaded gun from Phoebe's hand and held the other one out to her. She looked at him confusedly before he said, "Without me telling you how to do it, take a couple of shots."

That was probably the last thing that she had expected to hear, and it showed on her face. "Seriously?" she asked, delicately taking it out of his hand.

The gun Dean had shot was not the same as the gun that she had held a few moments earlier. It was heavier, and she needed to use both hands to hold it up. It was also loaded, and it felt far more serious. Dean had given her shotguns full of salt rounds before, but she had never actually fired one before, let alone a real weapon.

Dean nodded. "Yep," he answered shortly. He took a few steps back, letting her have room.

Phoebe took a breath before turning to face the target, gripping the gun exactly like she had a few moments ago. She held it up stiffly and closed one eye so that the sight lined up with the target.

After a moment, she pulled the trigger.

The force of the gun took her by surprise. She yelped as she stumbled back a few feet, her arms flying up and her elbows and wrists aching from the sudden shock.

It took her a moment to regain her balance, and she made a hissing sound as she shook one of her hands.

"What the hell was that?!" she blurted.

When she looked up at Dean, she was unsurprised to see that there was a slightly amused smile on his face. "That's my way of telling you not to screw around," he said, walking over and clapping her on the shoulder. "What I've been showing you lately has been pretty simple. The worst you can get is a couple of bruises. Mess up with a gun, you'll ruin the gun, put your shoulder out of socket, break a finger, fracture your wrist, or shoot yourself." He looked at her seriously as she straightened back up. "I know I carry guns around like its nothing, but they aren't toys." He prodded her back towards their cubicle, but took the gun out of her hands and set it on the table. He took the second gun from where he was holding it at his hip, and slipped the magazine in.

Once it was loaded, he handed the lighter gun to Phoebe. "Now hold it up and aim like you did a second ago."

Phoebe frowned a little, but did as she was told. She was unsurprised when she looked at the target and saw that she had completely missed. "Please don't tell me that this is how Uncle John taught you."

Dean laughed for a second. "Oh, this is nothing like how dad taught me," he said, moving to her side so that he could look at her arms and hands. "Relax your elbows a little...dad's way of teaching me was putting me in front of a bunch of beer cans and having me shoot until I hit all of them. Had to figure out the finer details by myself. I was sore for weeks after he gave me a rifle." One of his hands floated up, pulling Phoebe's left thumb so that it didn't cross over the back of the gun. "Alright, tighten your grip a little and try again."

This time, when the gun went off, it didn’t throw her back at all, although her hands still flew up a few more inches than she was happy with. Her wrist and elbows felt the shock, but certainly not as much as they had.

And when she looked at the target, she was mildly pleased to see that she had at least hit it this time. She was nowhere near the bull’s-eye, but she had hit it.

"Ha!" She blurted proudly, putting down the gun before turning back to Dean, who was smiling smugly.

"Definitely better," he said brightly, nodding a little. “Go ahead and keep shooting.”

Phoebe was smiling this time when she lined up her next shot, careful to keep to the form Dean showed her. “Hope you don’t intend to pull that with Prue. She won’t be as easy on you about it.”

Dean winced a little while Phoebe shot a second round, and then another. One of them missed the target by a few inches, this time, but the other hit in the same spot as the first one. “If I can convince her to come at all, you mean.”

“It’s not like she’s actively avoiding practice,” Phoebe said, looking over at him slightly.

“She’s just busy, I know…” he grumbled. “I just think she and Piper should be taking this more seriously.” He shook his head as she fired another shot, missing again. “Loosen your grip just a little. You’re shaking.” He paused while she corrected herself, shooting again, and managing to hit the target. “You realize how lucky we’ve been so far, right? If we end up fighting a real monster one of these days, you guys could be in real trouble.”

“That’s the good thing about Prue and Piper’s powers,” Phoebe said. “They can handle themselves long enough to run away, if nothing else.”

Dean snorted a little. “Forgive me if I’d rather trust something I _know_ works over something that has _literally_ turned our lives upside down.”

That made Phoebe laugh in turn, and she put the gun down to turn back to Dean. “I’m sure they’ll get into it eventually,” she told him optimistically.

He shook his head, though. “Before or after one of them gets hurt?”

And Phoebe couldn’t answer that.

 

(-:-)

 

“Wow, your house is so cool,” Aviva said, bouncing on her heels as Sam showed her around the manor.

They’d only been out of school for about an hour now, and the manor was the only place that Sam could think of for them to go. After all, they had run off so that they could talk about their powers, which you really could not do in Golden Gate Park.

Sam smiled at her as they walked into the kitchen, and he went to get sodas out of the fridge. “I know right,” he said brightly. “Dean always thinks its lame when I talk about its history.”

“Well Dean doesn’t know what he’s missing, then,” Aviva said, flopping into one of the chairs at the table.

“We’re trying to restore it,” Sam explained. “Dean and his friend Leo are working on all of the panels right now, but we’re also having problems with the electricity. It was built right after the 1912 earthquake, so all of the wiring is really old.”

As Sam walked back over to her, handing her a soda she asked, “Can’t you just use magic to fix it?”

Sam’s brow wrinkled a little. “Um…what?”

“You know, cast a spell, just zap the entire house into shape,” she said brightly, smiling at him as if she was suggesting something totally normal. “I mean you all have powers.”

“I don’t think they work like that,” Sam said, shaking his head a little. “Last time Phoebe tried to use her powers for personal gain, it wound up backfiring on her.”

That made Aviva look confused. “Then what _do_ you use your powers for?” she asked.

Sam shrugged. “Mostly, _I_ don’t,” he started. “Prue’s got a ban on using spells willy-nilly, so mostly we’ve only been using our active powers. Oh, except for when these stupid warlocks come after us. The others all have powers that help out, but mine work weird…”

Aviva leaned forwards, looking concerned. “What do you mean?”

“They just are,” he said. “I’ve got the power of premonition, so sometimes I can see the future, but I get these ridiculous migraines because of it, and I rarely have actual visions. Then I have these dreams about people I’ve never met…” He sighed a little, leaning onto his hands. “It’s so weird. Everyone else got a power that can help someone, and then there’s me. And there’s this guy that keeps walking through my head with yellow eyes. He always says these really creepy things.”

When he looked up, Aviva looked legitimately concerned about what he had told her. “Have you told your cousins?” she asked.

Sam shook his head. “Not about all of it,” he said. “They know about the migraines, and I’ve told them that I’ve been having weird dreams, but I haven’t told them about what happens in them.”

“They probably just wouldn’t get it…” Aviva muttered.

As sad as the sentiment was it made Sam huff, and smile a little. “Exactly,” he sighed. “They…I know they’re looking out for me, and that they want to help, but I’m different and I hate it…I can’t even be normal within a family of freaks...”

“I know the feeling,” Aviva replied, her voice sounding a little bitter. “You just want to be a part of something and you’re always on the edge for some reason.”

“And they keep telling you it’s all okay, and that everything is fine…”

“But it’s not…and they think you’re damaged if you tell them otherwise.”

They smiled at each other commiseratingly. Sam leant back in his chair, and asked, “So what about you? You know about our powers. How did you get yours?”

Aviva’s smile brightened. “Why don’t I show you?” she asked.

Sam raised an eyebrow as Aviva got up and walked into the conservatory. He followed her slowly, and a few moments later, he found her standing in front of the mirror. He got there too late to see a woman flashing through the glass, and she looked over at him for a second.

“I like mirrors,” she explained, waving a hand at the glass before shaking her head. “They never lie to you. Always tell you the truth, whether you like it or not…”

She trailed off before turning away from the mirror and sitting down on the floor. Sam walked over and sat across from her. “I’ve got this teacher,” she started explaining. “She’s kinda like my mom, and this is how she gave me my powers.”

Sam raised an eyebrow as Aviva held out her hands, holding them so that her palms faced the ceiling. “You’re giving me a power?” he asked. “Like…”

Aviva shook her head. “Don’t be afraid,” she insisted, wiggling her hands so that he understood they needed to touch.

“I’m not afraid, I just wanna know…”

“Sam,” Aviva sighed. “Just trust me. You’ll get it in a minute…”

Sam looked at her nervously before sighing, and holding his hands over hers. They barely touched before Aviva closed her eyes.

Before half of a second passed, something started burning through Sam’s arms. He tried to be strong against the pain, but it was too much and he whimpered. It felt like there was boiling oil running through his veins, and it was only a few moments before he screamed

Aviva’s eyes opened in shock, and she tore her hands off of him. “Sam?” she asked, her voice breaking as Sam gripped his arms close to his chest, moaning as the pain got worse.

“Sam-what’s wrong?” she asked frantically, leaning forward and patting his back. “Sam tell me what…Kali what’s going on?”

Sam couldn’t focus on her voice through the pain. The burning in his arms was traveling up to his elbow, lighting his entire arm on fire and making them throb. Aviva kept yelling for someone’s help, but he didn’t get so see if anyone came before he crumpled over and blacked out.

 

(-:-)

 

Aviva started to panic as she watched Sam fall over.

“Sam?” she blurted. “Sam! Sam please get up!” She scrambled over her own feet to push him over so that she could get a good look at him.

He was completely still as she shook his shoulders, and his breath was shallow. She could practically feel his heartbeat going spastic as she touched him.

“Oh god, oh god…”

She started to stand, about to run for the phone and call nine-one-one when she heard another voice.

“Sam?! Sam is that you? What’s going on?!”

Aviva snapped to face the front door, and she could vaguely see Prue standing outside of it. _What will she think_ , Aviva wondered. _She’s going to kill me…_

She had to get out of there.

Without thinking she rushed towards the door, shoving past Prue as soon as she got the door open. The way Prue screeched at her made Aviva feel sick, and it was even worse when she heard Prue discover Sam in the living room.

All she could do was run.

It wasn’t until she got to her aunt’s apartment that she let herself stop and breathe, and think about what had just happened.

She had hurt Sam.

Her heart started pounding, and she shook as she walked towards the stairs.

Kali…

Whatever Kali had her do had just _hurt_ one of the very few people she could have called a friend. She had no idea if he was okay now.

She felt sick as she saw Sam crumple over in his mind’s eye.

_How could I have…_

When she reached the top of the stairs, she gently closed the door behind her before pulling out the candles and the skull she used to summon Kali. For the first time, she was afraid of what would happen when she summoned her mentor. What if Kali had planned this? What if she had _intended_ for her to scare the Halliwells the night before? Intended for her to hurt Sam?

She lit the candles hesitantly before looking up at the mirror where Kali shimmered into existence.

The sorceress smiled at her like nothing was the matter. “Aviva,” she greeted warmly. “I was not expecting to hear from you this-“

“What happened to Sam?”

A look of surprise appeared on Kali’s face. Aviva had never interrupted her before. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Aviva grit her teeth, trying to stay focused and to not remember how Sam had collapsed at her feet. “Sam…when you had me give him…give him my powers, he screamed,” she choked out. “What happened to him?”

“Why, I don’t know,” Kali began. “It was nothing caused by _my_ magic.”

“Then what was it?!” Aviva basically screamed. “He could be _hurt_! I could have killed him with this! What happened?”

“Aviva, I don’t know,” Kali repeated, her tone darkening as she explained. “Whatever it is, it cannot be good for our plan…”

Aviva nearly gagged. “Our plan?!” she blurted. “To hell with the plan! Sam could be hurt and you’re worried about-“

“I am worried about Sam too,” Kali said softly, “but the Halliwells will not easily trust you at all now. We must try a different approach…”

“After what I just did, they _shouldn’t_ trust me,” Aviva said, shaking her head. “Oh god, if he’s not okay…”

“Focus, Aviva,” Kali said sharply. “You must approach them again. There is a spell that you can use on Piper…”

The mere thought of using another spell on someone made Aviva blanch. “No!” she blurted. “No more magic on people!”

“But I need-“

“I could hurt someone again!” Kali nearly shouted. “I could have seriously hurt Sam! I’m not going to do the same thing to Piper!”

The scenery behind Kali got dark, much like it had the night before. “You don’t have a choice in the matter,” she growled. “We had an agreement.”

Aviva shook her head. “I don’t care. I’m not going to-“

There was a knock on the door all of a sudden. “Aviva?”

It was Aunt Jackie.

Aviva grit her teeth as she looked at the door.

“Aviva, what are you doing in there? Who’s in there with you?” Her aunt turned the doorknob and came in. “You skipped school today and I want to know why…”

Aviva jumped up, standing in front of her mirror so that Kali could disappear unnoticed.

After the panic she was facing now, she didn’t need to explain herself to her aunt. “Get out of my room!” she nearly shouted.

Her aunt glared at her. “Don’t speak to me in that tone,” she said sharply, leaving her mouth open as if she were about to demand an explanation when she saw the skull and candles on the floor. She almost looked afraid when she saw that. “What…Aviva what are you-“

“Can you just go away?!” Aviva spat.

“Not until I know what on earth you’re doing!” Jackie blurted. She took a few steps forward, nearing the candles on the ground. “Aviva, please-“

“Just leave!”

Without thinking about it, Aviva slammed her foot down, anger surging through her, and all of the candles at her feet flared.

Jackie jumped back in fear before looking at Aviva in shock.

And a heartbeat later, she looked down.

They both saw the flame licking the hem of Jackie’s dress.

“Oh god!” Aviva gasped.

Jackie screamed grabbing one of Aviva’s jackets and starting to slap at it with the jacket. The fire just started trailing further and further up her skirt.

She rushed towards the door, desperate to get to the fire extinguisher downstairs, but in her haste, tripped over the top step.

Aviva heard her scream as she went tumbling down the steps.

“Aunt Jackie!” Aviva yelled, rushing after her.

She scrambled down the steps, and put out the fire with the jacket as soon as she reached it, but her aunt wasn’t moving.

“No…no-no-no,” she stammered. “Not again…”

 

(-:-)

 

_This is getting out of hand_

 

Sam felt his arms burning…

 

_You weren’t supposed to be a witch…_

 

His fingers throbbed and his head pounded as yellow eyes peered into his thoughts.

 

_Rex knows his job. He better get a move on…_

 

(-:-)

 

Something in the back of Sam’s head seemed to pop, waking him from his dream, and he slowly started to blink.

He wasn’t at the manor anymore, but there were voices around him.

“…been getting migraines for about two months now.”

“But they’ve never been bad enough that he blacked out.”

“Well, migraines are a serious problem that could allude to any number of neurological problems…”

“Just tell me if my brother is gonna be alright…”

“Guys! Guys, he’s waking up!”

As Sam started to sit up, he was a little surprised to find that he was lying in a hospital bed. Dean, Prue, Piper and Phoebe were on the other side of the room talking with a doctor, all of them looking upset and panicked.

Dean was the first one to rush over, making Sam lay back down, and looking over him for any obvious signs of injury. Next was the doctor, who was followed by Prue, who looked exceptionally upset.

The doctor looked over him carefully as he pulled out a penlight. “How are you feeling Sam?”

He shined it in Sam’s eyes, starting some basic tests while Sam answered, “Ah…I’m alright. Little confused. Why am I at the hospital?”

“You passed out at home,” Dean told him.

“I got home and heard you screaming,” Prue said. “Your school called and said you had skipped class, and then some girl ran out of the house and I found you on the floor…”

Sam looked away from the doctor, and felt really guilty when he looked at Prue. He couldn’t imagine how much he had scared her with that. A quick look at Piper, Phoebe and Dean told him that they were not too happy either.

But he did not say anything more as the doctor kept checking him over. They were all quiet, waiting for the doctor to leave so that they could really talk.

When he did, Prue looked at him seriously. “Okay, what happened today?”

Sam sighed. “That girl that was at the house last night goes to my school,” he started. “She found me and she kinda…we decided to skip class…”

Prue’s eyes narrowed, and he kept talking before she could say anything about it. Even so, Sam _knew_ that they weren’t done with that conversation.

“So we went to the manor and we just talked about our powers a little,” he explained. “And then she said that she wanted to give me _her_ power, but when she tried my arms started burning…”

“Sam, I thought we agreed that she was dangerous,” Piper chastised.

“I know, I know, and I’m sorry, but…”

“Go back to the part about your arms burning,” Dean interrupted. “She has the power to set things on fire, and you decided it was a good idea to let her touch you?”

“She wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Sam said surely. “She was just as freaked out as I was.”

“It was still a bad idea and you should have known that,” Prue said sharply, and Sam looked at his hands. “We all agreed that no one was going to talk to her, but then you completely ignored it. You skipped school, let her into the house, and she could have hurt you-“

“She didn’t,” Sam muttered.

“But she could have,” Prue argued. “Sam, we’ve been over and _over_ how we need to be careful, and you completely blew it off.”

“I didn’t blow it off!” Sam insisted loudly. “I just wanted to have a friend I didn’t have to hide my freaky life from! Aviva isn’t dangerous!”

 “Anyone who recklessly uses their…” She caught herself there, realizing that she was nearly screaming. She swallowed and did her best to drop her voice. “Anyone who recklessly uses their powers in front of people is _dangerous_ Sam. She could expose us and she could have hurt you or destroyed the house today.”

“Don’t you think she’d be less likely to expose us if we were nice to her?” Sam asked sharply.

“Don’t get smart with me, young man,” Prue shot back, narrowing her eyes at him. She wasn’t surprised that Sam rolled his eyes, and then avoided looking at her. “You have no idea how much trouble you’re in for scaring us like that…”

Sam’s shoulders drooped minutely, feeling bad for that, and knowing he deserved to.

Before they could say anything else, the doctor walked back into the room with a selection of paperwork, and suggestions to visit various specialists. Since Sam was alright now, and showed no signs of collapsing in the near future, he was discharged within an hour, and they all started to leave.

The entire Halliwell group was silent as they walked towards the exit. The look on Prue’s face suggested that the tension would continue at home too, as well as for the duration of Sam’s punishment.

They heard sirens wailing as they got to the front of the hospital, and saw the flashing lights when they walked outside. An ambulance pulled up to the drop off nearby the main entrance. While Prue tried to keep walking, the others stopped for a split second to look as the ambulance doors opened.

The Paramedics were the first out of the vehicle, pulling out a stretcher with a woman laying on it. They could not tell who she was, or how she was injured.

And then Aviva jumped out, looking scared and upset.

Sam didn’t really think before he blurted her name and started walking over, wanting to know what happened. “Aviva? Aviva, what’s wrong?”

The Halliwells in tow got nervous, wondering what she had done, and what she would do now that they were there. Prue sighed harshly and started following Sam.

Aviva looked over at them, and they saw tear streaks on her heavily made-up face. “S-Sam…oh god, are you alright? You’re okay after…after…”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sam assured her. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

Her mouth opened to answer, but it quickly closed before a choked sound came from her throat. She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight.

Even Prue, who had never met her and was dead-set on disliking her, grew concerned. “Aviva, what happened?” she asked.

“It…it’s my au-aunt…” Aviva choked up. “I was…I was in my room and I was…I lit some candles to help me calm down after what ha-happened-d. My aunt c-came in and we started fight-t-ting. The candles flared up b-because I was mad and they caught her dress on fire.” She started choking on her tears again. “She…she ran out of my room and tripped down the stairs…I…I didn’t mean…”

In that moment, Phoebe didn’t care whether Aviva had been labeled bad news or not, she just rushed forwards and pulled her into a hug. “Oh you poor thing…” she breathed. “I’m sure she’ll be okay; it was just an accident…”

Sam looked back at the others, his expression pleading them to be nice to her about this. Prue tried to keep a stubborn face on, but she couldn’t really see this girl as a threat. She was just a lost teenager who didn’t know how to use her magic, just like they had a few weeks ago.

Dean was trying too, but he had first-hand experience with magic gone wrong, and just couldn’t keep it up for long.

He sighed. “Do you have some place to crash for the night?” he asked, a little begrudgingly.

Aviva looked up from Phoebe’s shoulder, a little confused. “Wha-what?” she choked out. “I-I was gonna wait here to make sure Aunt Jackie was okay…”

“All by yourself?” Phoebe asked, drawing away. “Sweetie, I know you’re worried, but you shouldn’t be all alone right now.” She looked over at Prue, and raised an eyebrow. “We’ve got a spare bed.”

All of the older Halliwells looked around at each other, wondering if they were on the same page. Earlier that day, they had been insistent that they should avoid this girl at all cost. Now she was just a sobbing teenager.

“No…no I can’t…” Aviva muttered. “I’ve already caused you guys enough trouble, and Aunt Jackie…” She pointed into the doors of the hospital.

Piper walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Aviva, Phoebe is right. You’ve had a long day; you should be with other people. You can leave our numbers with the nurses and they’ll call us when they know something. Right now, you should get some rest.”

Aviva pursed her lips tensely, as if she couldn’t believe how nice they were being to her after what had happened. She looked like she was about to cry again. After a moment, though, she nodded, and they all walked back into the hospital.

 

(-:-)

 

It was a quiet drive back to the manor. Everyone in the Impala was tense and sluggish after the dramatic events of the day.

Every now and again Prue would look into the back seat, trying to make sure Aviva was minding her behavior, or to make sure Sam was okay. The only time Sam caught her, her eyes narrowed sternly, and he curled up on himself.

They did not talk when they got to the manor, either, only walking inside silently. Aviva walked through the front room slowly, and she flinched when she saw the scorch mark on the coffee table.

“Ah…I-I’ll pay to replace this,” she stammered, looking up at Prue nervously.

The eldest Halliwell looked suspicious, but she nodded. “Thank you for that,” she muttered after a moment. She looked around at the others, not entirely sure what to say now that they had invited Aviva into their home as a guest.

Dean pursed his lips for a few moments before shrugging. “So, I’m gonna go ahead and turn in…or whatever,” he said, staggering a little for the words before turning around and heading for the stairs to the basement. “G’Night.”

Piper let out a breath, glad to have a path to continue down. “That sounds like a good idea for all of us, actually,” she said, turning to Aviva. “Let’s get you set up in Phoebe’s room. You can borrow one of my nightgowns…”

“I-I’m fine with out,” Aviva said, following Piper as she started walking towards the stairs. “I can just sleep in this…”

Phoebe walked close behind them. “Nonsense, you can always borrow something from me instead…”

Their voices trailed off as they disappeared up the steps, leaving Sam and Prue downstairs. They were both quiet, and Prue took in a long breath.

Sam couldn’t help but look at her guiltily. “Um…so, about what happened today…”

Prue looked over at him. She looked tired, and maybe a little disappointed. “Can we talk about this later?” she asked dully.

Sam pursed his lips a little trying to find any words that would make up for what he had done. “Prue, I just wanted to ap-“

She interrupted him, though, putting up a hand to cut him off. “Sam, please stop,” she sighed. “It’s been a long day. I can’t think about this right now. Just…just go to bed, okay? We’ll talk in the morning…”

She turned around before he could say anything more, following Aviva and Phoebe up the stairs.

Sam watched her walk away, mouth open, eyes watery as he tried to say something.

Even when she was long gone, his head was still reeling for the word _sorry_.

 

(-:-)

 

Aviva didn’t know what to say as Phoebe let her sit on the bed while she threw sheets and other blankets over the couch in her bedroom. The other girl was chattering on about something to do with a band she liked, apparently having forgotten about everything that Aviva had done to terrorize her and her family over the past twenty four hours.

She did not have any idea how Phoebe could be so forgiving, or so trusting. She should be interrogating her, or putting her somewhere where she knew she would not hurt anyone. Actually, she and the others probably should not have let Aviva into their house at all.

“…and _that_ is why you should never date a musician,” Phoebe ended her story, turning around after placing a heavy blanket over the couch. She stood in front of Aviva for a few moments, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. When she saw that Aviva was not smiling back, her smile softened a little. “Ah…are you okay?”

Quickly realizing that she wasn’t being a great guest, Aviva nodded quickly. “I’m fine,” she answered. “Really…Um, thank you for this. I’ll try and make sure that it’s only for the night…”

Phoebe smiled again. “It’s okay Aviva. I’m not saying you can stay for as long as you like, but you aren’t intruding.”

Aviva snorted a little. “No, worse. I’m intruding _after_ threatening you and nearly killing Sam.” She pulled herself off of the bed, looking towards the mirror on Phoebe’s dresser, thinking about Kali. She could see Phoebe’s face through the reflection, and was still surprised at how kind and sympathetic Phoebe was being.

“Aviva, you can’t beat yourself up about this,” she said.

Aviva shook her head, turning around slowly. “How are you being so _nice_ to me?”

Phoebe smiled, shrugging a little. “Because I was just as screwed up as you were when I was a kid. Actually, I was probably worse, just without the ability to set things on fire with my brain.” She laughed a little, like it was supposed to be a joke. Aviva didn’t laugh back, though, and Phoebe’s smile fell. “Look, you’re a kid. Life sucks a little, but you can’t expect to have it all figured out.”

“That doesn’t give me a pass,” Aviva answered, moving to sit down on the couch she would be sleeping on that night. “I can’t give you any good reason for nearly hurting two people in one day…”

There was silence, and Phoebe tried to keep her mouth closed. She knew Aviva didn’t need to be reminded, but she couldn’t help but ask, “What actually happened with Sam earlier? What did you do?”

Aviva’s eyes widened before she looked away shamefully. Tears filled her eyes to the brim, and Phoebe could practically feel how sorry she was. “I didn’t mean to,” she said. “I mean, I was trying to give him my powers and Ka…my mom told me that it was perfectly safe. That’s how she gave me my powers. But he started screaming and…”

She choked, and Phoebe put a hand out to stop her. “Hey, hey….it’s okay. I believe you,” she assured Aviva. “Look, Sam’s powers are a little weird. He gets migraines just from having his own powers. I’m sure it was the same thing…”

“That doesn’t make it okay,” Aviva said. “I could have really hurt him and I had no idea…”

Phoebe didn’t know what else to say, and wordlessly moved forwards to give Aviva a hug. She was shaking, and Phoebe knew she was being honest. “Look, maybe it’s not okay, but you didn’t mean to do it, just like with your aunt, alright?” she said before pulling back. “But everyone is gonna be okay. Sam’s not hurt, and your aunt is supposed to make a full recovery. Everything will be better in the morning, so go ahead and get some sleep.”

Aviva nodded anxiously and quietly went and laid down on Phoebe’s couch while Phoebe went ahead over to her bed, but they both knew that they wouldn’t get much sleep tonight.

 

(-:-)

 

Hours later, Aviva blinked tiredly at the ceiling, her head swimming miserably from the events of the day. Hurting Sam like she had was bad enough, but her aunt too? Jackie, as much as Aviva fought with her, wasn’t a bad person, and Aviva would never have hurt her. She had taken Aviva in when she had nowhere else to go, and now she was in the hospital.

Guilt made tears prick at the corner of her eyes, and she stood up, looking quietly around Phoebe’s bedroom. She didn’t want to wake Phoebe if she started to cry, so instead she got up quietly and slunk into the hallway.

It took a few minutes to find the bathroom, where she closed the door as silently as she could before letting out a shaky breath and collapsed against the door frame.

What had she thought she was doing, trying to be a witch? Now that she had met the Halliwells, she could tell that they were nothing like Kali. They weren’t a coven, they were a family. They had gotten their powers naturally while Aviva had picked hers up from a woman she had only seen through the mirror. She had thought Kali could be trusted, but everything the witch had told her had only gotten people hurt.

Aunt Jackie was in the hospital.

Sam had screamed when Aviva gave him her powers.

And Kali had been trying to convince her to hurt Piper next.

As much as Aviva hated to realize it, Kali had manipulated her. She had told Aviva that magic would give her a family, and it had caused her to hurt some of the few people that cared about her.

She pressed her eyes closed tight before a tear rolled out of her eye, followed by another, and another. Before she knew it she had crumbled to the floor, crying softly.

She didn’t know how long she was there for before she stopped. She stood, staggering a little before walking over to the mirror, and sighing slightly when she saw black streaks running down the tracks her tears had left. It looked like she hadn’t taken off all of her makeup, and she moved to find a towel when the mirror shimmered.

Kali stood staring at her with a soft smile, and Aviva started to shake.

“Well done, Aviva,” she praised. “Now you just need to use that spell on Piper…”

Aviva shook her head. “No…no, I’m not going to hurt anyone else!” she insisted.

The sorceress in the mirror made disappointed face. “Aviva, we discussed this. You want a family, don’t you?”

“I have a family!” Aviva declared. “I have mom and I have Aunt Jackie, but because of me, Jackie is in the hospital. I can’t do it. I’m not going to hurt anyone else.”

Now, Kali frowned deeply, and narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?”

 

(-:-)

 

At first, Prue thought she was imagining the voice that was responding to Aviva.

She had the bedroom closest to the bathroom, so when Aviva had gone in crying, it had woken Prue up. As annoyed as she was, she didn’t go in and call the girl out on it. She had been through a lot, after all. Prue wasn’t the kind to kick someone when they were down.

But when a voice started speaking to Aviva in the bathroom, it had made Prue sit up straight. She caught a few words from the voice, _spell_ and _Piper_ , followed by Aviva’s pleas to be left out of it.

It was enough to make Prue get out of bed and go see what was going on, and she was shocked to see a blonde woman standing in the mirror to talk to a teary eyed Aviva.

The woman was holding out a hand, pointing it threateningly at Aviva, and Prue just reacted.

“Get down!”

She shot forward, knocking Aviva to the floor before black smoke shot from Kali’s hand. Instead of hitting Aviva, though, it hit Prue, causing her to freeze for a moment as Kali invaded her.

It wasn’t physically painful, but Prue wanted to scream as she was pressed into the back of her mind. She could hear Kali’s voice as the sorceress overtook her body, taking control of her arms. Without realizing it, Prue’s eyes turned bright red.

Aviva gasped. “Kali no!” she shouted.

Kali laughed through Prue’s throat. “This is even better than I planned,” she breathed, looking down at Aviva. “Now instead of you, I get the most powerful Halliwell sister without even trying…”

When Kali took a step forwards, Aviva scrambled away from her, and shouted for Sam and Piper and Phoebe before she ran into the hall.

The other Halliwells were out of their rooms in a second. Sam was the first to bolt out and look at her in shock. “Aviva-what-“

“I didn’t mean to!” Aviva said to him, slamming the bathroom door on Kali before rushing over to him. Phoebe and Piper had gathered, looking at her in shock and confusion. “The mentor I told you about, she…she started talking to me in the mirror, and then Prue walked in and…and she…I don’t know-she possessed her or something!”

The door to the bathroom slammed into the wall in the hallway, sticking the doorknob into the drywall. Downstairs, they heard another door slam as Dean reacted to the noise upstairs.

“You really think you can stop me with a door, Aviva?” Kali said in a sickly sweet voice.

Aviva whimpered a little as Prue held up her hand, but before she got far, Dean swung around a corner. “Prue-what are you-“

Before he could say anything, Kali swung Prue’s hand, using her powers to knock Aviva into the others. Everyone tumbled down before she hit the wall hard. Dean didn’t even think before he rushed at Prue, tackling her to the ground. Sam staggered back to his feet before he went to pull Aviva up.

“Dammit Prue-what-“

“That’s not Prue!” Phoebe shouted at him. “She’s been possessed by something.”

Dean started to say something, but then one of Kali’s hands pressed against his chest, lighting on fire so he jumped away from her with a yelp. “Shit!”

Sam checked Aviva over to make sure she wasn’t injured, and thankfully, she just looked dizzy. “We’re gonna go check the book. Keep her distracted!” he blurted at Dean, before starting to drag Aviva up the stairs.

“We’ll do that,” Dean said sourly as Kali slid back to her feet.

Behind her, Dean could see that Phoebe was starting to stand too, and he could not help but feel a little anxious when he saw how determined she looked. Even if he had been trying to teach her, Phoebe was not a great fighter yet. He was unsure that she would be able to stand whatever it was that had taken over Prue’s body.

Piper was starting to stand too, but unlike her sister, she did not look nearly as confident.

“Keep away from her hands,” Dean warned. “This bitch can shoot fire.”

Prue’s face smiled at them. “Oh, you really wanna talk about her like that?” she clucked at him. “And I thought you were supposed to love each other…”

She lit a fireball in her hand, and started to throw it at Dean when Piper’s hand’s shot out. “No!” she blurted, freezing the fireball, although Kali kept moving.

Kali looked behind her and glared. Another fireball lit up in her hand. “Would you rather go first?”

“I’ll take that pleasure.”

Phoebe surprised Kali by running up while she was looking at Piper. She was not gentle just because it was Prue’s body she was fighting, and managed to tackle her to the ground.

Kali groaned a little, and spat curses at her while Phoebe pinned her wrists to the floor. She was face down.

“Can’t throw fireballs without your hands,” Phoebe huffed, laughing just a little.

Without warning, though, she was thrown from Kali’s back. She nearly hit the ceiling before smacking against a wall. She groaned when she hit the floor, and Kali laughed as she started to stand again.

“Your sister doesn’t need her hands to use her powers,” she taunted.

From behind, Dean ran at her hoping to get her in a choke hold, while Piper moved from behind to try and grab her wrists again. Kali sensed them coming, though, and she just waved one of her hands thoughtlessly. Piper yelped when Kali pushed her into a wall, and Dean nearly fell down the steps.

“I don’t have time for this…” she sighed, and turned to the stairwell to the attic.

 

(-:-)

 

Sam swore as he flipped through the book frantically, Aviva at his side as they looked for the page they wanted.

“Kali…Kali…damn it, she has to be in here,” Sam spat. There was a loud thud downstairs that only made him start turning pages faster.

Sam was about to flip past another page when Aviva grabbed his hand. “Wait-is that it?” she asked, stopping him before he passed a picture of a mirror with bright eyes inside.

Sure enough, the title read KALI, and Sam could have kicked himself for nearly missing it.

“Kali: A demon cursed into her own dimension. She has the ability to appear in reflections and retains her ability to possess innocents, using them as pawns to usurp a witch’s power…”

Aviva paled as she realized that she had been going to a demon for help, but all she said was, “How do we get rid of her?”

“She’s a demon,” Sam grumbled. “I think that means we can exorcise her.”

“You think?” Aviva asked.

Sam sighed. “Remember how I said that I’ve never been normal? Well my dad hunts monsters, but I’ve never actually helped to get rid of a demon before…”

He started scrambling through the book again, looking for an exorcism ritual or something when the door to attic crashed open and they saw Kali standing on the other side.

“You two look like you’ve been busy,” she grumbled, walking forwards and about to summon a fireball when something hurtled at her from behind.

Piper just managed to tackle her to the ground, sitting on top of her for good measure. “Stay away from them!” she shouted.

“Piper-can’t you freeze her?” Sam blurted, still flipping through the pages of the book.

Something clattered on the stairs, announcing that Dean and Phoebe were on their way upstairs too. Aviva rushed to the bookshelf, looking to see if she could find anything there.

“She’s using Prue’s body,” Piper informed him. “Good witches don’t freeze!”

Without warning, Kali threw Piper off of her so that she landed on the floor. The demon slunk to her feet before strutting over and putting a hand around Piper’s neck. “Can’t you silly witches learn to stay down?” she hissed.

Piper struggled to get a breath in as Dean and Phoebe stormed in, hauling Kali off of Piper and throwing her to the ground.

“Dean! She’s a demon!” Sam informed his brother.

“Are you freaking kidding me?”  Dean shot at him, staring at Kali even more warily now that they knew what she was.

“No, how do we deal with it?” Sam blurted.

“We need to exorcize her.”

“And how do we do that?” Phoebe asked.

“I don’t know! There’s a chant. It’s Latin or something. I don’t have it memorized…” Dean grumbled ducking down defensively as Kali got back to her feet, her hands glowing with heat.

“Then where can I find the exorcism?” Sam shot back at him, growing more and more anxious as Kali shot a fireball across the room, barely missing Piper before hitting gram’s dress form, which Piper scrambled to put out.

“There’s a book or something that dad gave me,” Dean blurted. “I think it’s in the trunk…”

“Is is leather bound and labeled exorcisms?” Aviva blurted from where she was sifting through the bookshelf, pulling out a small book. It looked like a tiny bible, and there was a piece of white tape across the front that read ‘exorcisms’ in black sharpie.

Dean dodged another fireball. “No-but if you found one that works too!”

“Maybe its Grams’ copy,” Sam blurted rushing forwards and pulling the book from Aviva’s hands. He flicked through it quickly and was thrilled to see that a few passages were highlighted in yellow. “I think I got it!”

Kali stepped over to Phoebe, and made a grab for her throat, which Phoebe promptly hit the deck and rolled away from. “Don’t keep us waiting Sam! Get this thing out of my sister!”

Sam looked at the words, and stumbled a little as he tried to read it out loud. “Exor… _Exorcizamus te,_ om-nis… _omnis immundus spiritus…_ ”

Kali laughed. “You really think the stammering of a teenager will get rid of me?” she spat, Prue’s voice harsher than it should have been, making Sam falter even more.

Dean grabbed her from behind, trying to pin her arms while Phoebe and Piper grabbed her wrists.

Sam started again. “ _Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…_ ”

This time as the words came out of his mouth, Kali started shaking, frozen in place, yet struggling. Her wrists started heating up, and Phoebe and Piper were forced to let go.

“ _Omnis satanic potestas, omnis incursion infernalis adversarii, omnis legio…_ ”

Kali started screaming now, and heat that started radiating from her skin forced them all to let go. Dean sprawled towards one of the walls while Piper and Phoebe fell to the floor. Kali’s hands rose, trying to use her powers to stop him, but Sam kept going.

“ _Omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, draco maledicte. Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi…_ ”

Prue’s screams only got louder, and the floor started to rattle under their feet. Piper cowered while Phoebe watched in fascination, and Dean braced himself for what was about to happen.

Sam looked up at Prue one last time before he held the book up, finishing off the demon. “ _Facias libertate servire te rogamus, audi nos._ ”

The last word made the house rattle, and in front of them, Prue’s head snapped up sharp. Black smoke spewed from her mouth, emitting some monstrous sound before she fell to the ground.

As soon as it was gone, Sam dropped the book and rushed forwards. “Prue!” he blurted, falling to his knees at her side.

The other Halliwells picked themselves up off of the ground, and there was a tense moment where Prue didn’t move.

After a moment, though, she started to stir, and started sitting up in confusion. “Is something burning?” she asked.

Sam laughed, and Piper sighed, remembering the now ruined dress form.

“Nothing that can’t be replaced,” Phoebe sighed thankfully, standing up and dusting herself off.

Prue looked around, taking everything in before looking at Sam. “Okay, someone tell me what happened.”

“Ah…you might’ve been possessed,” Sam said, smiling weakly as Prue’s eyes bulged.

“Possessed?!”

“By a demon,” Aviva added, guilty, helpful, and awkward all at the same time.

Phoebe laughed at the face her sister made because of this information, and to the side, Piper huffed as she stood up, rubbing at the spots where she knew she would have bruises the next morning.

She looked at Dean. “So I’m thinking I’ll sit in next time you and Phoebe are training,” she muttered tensely, sounding pained as she rubbed at her wrists.

For about two seconds, Dean tried not to look smug. Then he laughed and decided he could be a _little_ smug as he walked over to make sure she wasn’t really injured.

Prue looked at Sam pointedly as he helped her to her feet, telling her about the havoc that had occurred in the past half hour. Her expressions ranged from pissed to panicked, but in the end, everything was okay, and they were all happy with that.

And if Sam couldn’t help but give Prue a hug as they all went back downstairs, everyone was happy with that too.

 

(-:-)

 

Three days later, Sam sat on the front porch of the manor. It was a peaceful day.

Next to him, Aviva clutched her overnight bag to her chest as she waited for the cab that would take her back to her aunt’s place. “I should really thank Prue and Piper for letting me stay, again…”

Sam couldn’t help but laugh a little.

Since everything that had happened with Kali, Aviva had been staying with them. Her aunt was in the hospital after all, and Piper was still wary of leaving her alone.

Despite the rocky start she had had with the older Halliwells, Aviva had been a decent house guest. She told them everything that had happened with Kali, apologizing profusely for endangering them.

Apparently, she had first summoned Kali through an engraving on the back of her mirror at home. Playing as a caring sorceress from another dimension, the demon had quickly gotten her to admit how lonely she was. Kali had casually suggested one day that she could become a witch like her, join a coven where they would be like family. Aviva had accepted in a heartbeat, not knowing what that entailed.

Dean explained afterwards that it was actually a pretty common demon trick, and they had all agreed that it was not really her fault. Aviva hardly thought so, and did her best to be as unobtrusive while she stayed at the manor. She made sure to help with cleaning, and thanked them for letting her stay whenever she could.

“If you thank them again, I’m pretty sure Dean’ll hit you upside the head,” Sam joked, elbowing her a little, and smiling because she smiled.

“I know, but still,” she muttered. “You have no idea how much you guys have done for me. I could have done something terrible…”

“But you didn’t, and that’s what matters.”

Aviva shook her head. “I came close,” she said, looking at the road in front of them. “I really hope I can make everything up to Aunt Jackie…”

“You guys seemed to be doing better at the hospital,” Sam reminded her.

“I still think she’s a little afraid of me,” Aviva said. “But at least I can try to not be so awful to her. And my powers are gone, so it’s not like I can light her on fire again.”

Sam made a face at that, even though it was supposed to be a joke. When Kali was exorcised, all of the magic she had used went with her, and that meant that Aviva was mortal again. It was probably for the best, but Sam was a little disappointed that she was not magical anymore.

“Yeah…but I’m going to miss having a friend who’s a witch,” he admitted.

It was Aviva’s turn to elbow him, and when he looked back up at her, she smiled at him. “Hey, just because I don’t have powers doesn’t mean I’m not going to be your friend,” she said. “We’ll still see each other at school. And I’m still going to know you’re secret, so it isn’t like you’re hiding it from everyone you know.”

“That’s true…”

A taxi cab appeared at the end of the street, and Aviva looked a little nervous when she looked at it. “That’s my ride,” she said, starting to stand, and slinging her bag over her shoulder.

Sam stood as well, and put a hand on her shoulder. He could practically feel how worried she was. “Everything is gonna be alright. Chill.”

Aviva practically snorted before looking back at him. “Easy for you to say,” she joked, before giving him a hug. Even though Sam was a little surprised, he hugged her back, and smiled.

When she pulled back, he said, “Call us if you need anything, alright?”

She nodded, and started to walk down the stairs. “Right,” she replied. “I’ll see you at school.”

She turned towards the street just as the cab pulled up, and Sam watched just long enough for Aviva to slide into the cab. Her aunt was in the back seat, and Aviva hugged her as soon as she got the chance.

With that, Sam walked into the house, where he was not surprised to see the rest of his family waiting in the living room.

Piper stood up and smiled at him.

“You ready to go?”

 

(-:-)

 

Prue let out a shallow breath as Andy held her close to his chest.

“Just trust me…” he told her gently.

She wanted to close her eyes, to just relax into his touch, but she knew she couldn’t. “I do,” she stammered. “I just…”

“Hey, hey…” he cut her off. “I get it, you don’t want to, but please?”

For a few moments, they were both still, but she eventually let out a breath, looking straight ahead. “Alright…” she said, her voice a little shaky.

“Good…”

Andy maneuvered himself so that he could hold her arms better.

“Alright…pull the trigger.”

Prue grit her teeth. She took a few moments to steel herself before pulling the trigger on the gun in her hands, shooting at the target in front of her.

The recoil from the pistol forced a grunt from her throat, and she was forced back into Andy’s chest.

The police officer laughed at her as she winced, shaking her hand to recover from the shock.

“Ow!” she exclaimed in irritation.

Against the wall of the gun range, Dean laughed too. “C’mon Prue, it isn’t that bad…”

“You gave me a gun heavier than my purse!” she growled back at him. “Yeah, it’s that bad!”

In the next cubicle, Sam peeked around the divider. “We can swap if you want,” he said, holding out a shotgun that he had been showing Piper how to shoot with.

Since the fight with Kali, Piper had been far more intent on actually learning how to defend herself, and how to fight monsters. That, in turn, got Prue to take it more seriously. So far, Sam had mostly only been teaching them monster lore, and this was their first family outing to the shooting range.

It helped a lot that Dean had found a way to get Andy in on it, too. He was a cop, after all. Even if they did not want to tell him that they were witches, it was easy enough to tell him that Dean wanted cousins to be able to defend themselves. They just told him that it was because of the break in at the house a few weeks ago, and since Andy was a cop, he was more than happy to help with the occasional hand-to-hand and shooting lessons.

“I just need a lighter gun,” Prue insisted. “The one Phoebe’s using is fine.”

“Hey, I called dibs,” Phoebe said, ducking past the divider on Prue and Andy’s right.

“So?” Prue shot back, like any older sister would.

“Sooooo, I’ve got dibs!” Phoebe said, before grinning, and ducking back into her cubicle.

Prue shook her head, laughing slightly before looking back at Andy. He was smiling at her and despite all the drama over the past few days, Prue was happy.

“You want to try again?” he asked patiently.

Prue looked back to the target, and after taking a breath, she nodded. “Yeah. I’ll get this eventually.”

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter took a bit longer than expected, and I'm sorry for that. Don't know when I'll post the next, either, but expect Angels, Prue/Andy, Piper/Leo, and Prue's coworkers being sneaky and mysterious creepers.  
> Note on my use of demons for the sake of this story: at the base of it, they’re going to be like Supernatural demons, where they’re people that wound up in hell and need to possess people to be seen. But, to make it work with Charmed, they’re going to have more distinctive powers (Seriously, WTF is with their powers in SPN? Some of them don’t have powers some of them can break windows. IDEK). They’ll start out with some pretty basic powers, but can also steal powers like Warlocks do by killing Witches. Some powers can be taught, like how crossroads demons control hell hounds or grant wishes.  
> (Cole is not really a demon. He’s a cambion. He’s Jesse’s older brother by about two centuries)


End file.
